Light Within the Darkness
by TrevorxTravesty
Summary: This is a story about Mikado, a former member of a crime organization similar to Team Rocket/Galactic/Plasma etc., except that this story has a much darker and more mature tone. I try to convey Pokemon as realistically as possible, and this also being a realistic story, it is very violent and filled with blood, strong language, gore, etc. It is unfinished, though, so bare with me!
1. Prologue

Prologue

"75th floor..79th floor..83rd floor...Can this damned machine go any faster?" Mikado watched with growing impatience as the elevator steadily climbed ever closer to his final destination, the private suite of Boss Bakumaru on the 110th floor. "We're in pretty deep here, Houndoom." Mikado moved his gaze from the digital numbers of the elevator to the doberman-like Pokemon at his side. Flicking its spearhead-shaped tail back and forth, his Houndoom could also sense the tension growing in the air around them. "From here on in, things are going to get serious, but I know I can count on you when the need arises."

The gleam in Houndoom's crimson eyes showed that it understood fully what was ahead of them, and it stood alert and ready to obey whatever command that its master gave. Afterall, Houndoom was Mikado's first Pokemon, having raised it since it was a young Houndour pup that could barely blow cinders to the fiery powerhouse that it was now. Mikado could remember a kinder time when they used to run through the fields around Saffron City, a time where everything seemed so innocent and new. But now wasn't the time to reminisce.

"...Well, that's enough of that." Mikado brought his mind back to the present, focusing on the current task at hand. "90th floor...94th floor..98th floor..102nd floor..We're almost there, Houndoom. It has been some time since we last seen the Boss face to face." Houndoom let out a low growl after hearing the word _boss. _Even the Pokemon knew what kind of man that Bakumaru was. Although to call him a man wasn't quite the right word. No, the textbook definition of the word 'tyrant' seemed more fitting. Cold. Relentless. Ironfisted. Bloodthirsty. He was a man that demanded respect through a combination of sheer fear and power. It is said that he once wrestled a Feraligatr while out on a hunting trip, and killed it with a mere chokehold. It should also be noted that the Feraligatr's skull is mounted on his wall of trophy kills, just to display that no man nor beast can bring him down.

And yet, here was Mikado on his way to personally deal with him. Mikado, the man who used to be known as 'Bakumaru's Left Eye' when he was Bakumaru's most trusted aide and right hand man. Mikado, the man whom children used to whisper about on the playground. There was a time when he would do anything to please his boss. Poaching Pokemon, stealing priceless artifacts, murdering rivals. All was in a day's work for him. He walked on the razors' edge before, but he knew that now was the time for redemption. Of course, this wouldn't be a simple walk in the Pokepark. Not when you are up against the boss of one of the largest criminal organizations in the entire world.

_We should've been there by now..Something isn't right. _As if to verify Mikado's thoughts, the elevator came to an abrupt stop somewhere between the 105th and 106th floors. _Maintenance trouble? No..This has to be a set up. Too much money went into the construction of this building for a tiny problem like this to arise. _But neither Houndoom nor Mikado looked worried. They'd been through worse conditions than this. The fluorescent lights of the elevator flickered on and off like a Volbeat courting an Illumise during the mating season. "Houndoom, be ready for anything." Mikado spoke calmly with the least bit of worry in his voice. Houndoom stood firm and ready to strike at any given moment.

"Mikado, Mikado. My boy, surely you noticed the security cameras watching your every movement? I would've thought I trained you to be much more_ perceptive _to see something so blatantly obvious!" Mikado grinned as he heard the familiar voice speak through the elevator's intercom. "Oh, Bakumaru, that's just the thing. I _wanted _you to know that I was coming. I wanted you to know that the man that is coming to put an end to your meager existence is ME!" Bakumaru let out a guffaw as he let the rest of Mikado's words register in his twisted, poisoned mind. "End me? END ME?! Child, I CREATED you! I made you the man you are today! You had best realize where you are, and who you are dealing with. Who the FUCK do you think you are talking to me in that tone?" Mikado grinned more as he could hear the annoyance in Bakumaru's voice. "My, my. Getting testy, are we Bakumaru? A man of your caliber has nothing to fear, though, right? Or so you thought up until now.."

"Am I to be afraid of your words, insect? I, Bakumaru, do not fear ANY man! I will destroy you as easily as I created you! In fact, I have a bit of a consolation prize for you for making it this far." Bakumaru's voice faded into static, then silence. Houndoom's ears immediately perked up as it could sense something approaching from above. "You hear that, too, Houndoom? I don't like the sound of that.." As easily as a knife going through butter, the roof of the elevator was sliced open. The beating of wings grew closer, and then a faint hissing sound emanated from the darkness above them. Mikado stared at the pitch black void above him, then ordered Houndoom to attack. "Houndoom! Aim a Flamethrower upwards!" Houndoom pointed its mouth upwards and let loose with a red hot blast of fire, melting what was left of the roof. And then Mikado could see what had caused the damage.

Hovering above them was a Scyther, a wicked Pokemon that resembled a cross between a praying mantis and a dinosaur. It had razor-sharp scythes for arms and a mouth full of pointed fangs. The Scyther bared its fangs, raised its twin scythes, and swung wildly downwards, aiming for Mikado. _This thing is really thirsting for blood.._ Mikado ducked, but just barely enough to miss the incoming blade. Houndoom let out a howl, then leapt out of the gaping hole caused by Scyther and stood close by, its own fangs bared. "Houndoom! Give that Scyther a Flamethrower!" Houndoom responded with a burst of flames, but the Scyther whipped up a strong wind with the beating of its wings, causing the flames to disperse. _So attacking it directly won't work. Well, its time I tried the less humane approach._ Scyther lunged at Houndoom, who deftly leapt above it. "Alright Houndoom! Dive down onto Scyther and use Fire Fang!" Flames started to envelop Houndoom's fangs while it shot downwards towards Scyther. Scyther raised one of its scythes just before Houndoom could make contact, and Houndoom's jaws locked tightly onto it. Scyther shook its scythes savagely to try to throw Houndoom off, but Houndoom held on firmly. The heat from its mouth caused the scythe to burn with a white-hot intensity.

"Keep your grip firm, Houndoom! Show no quarter!" And firm it was! Houndoom wouldn't let go no matter how much Scyther thrashed about, all the while sending more heat to travel throughout the scythe. "The burns from a Houndoom's flames are said to never go away...Do you feel that burn, Scyther?" Mikado watched with all the awe of a child transfixed by a fireworks show, grinning ever so slightly.

In the midst of all its struggling, one of Scyther's scythes came into contact with the elevator control panel, resulting in an explosion of sparks and fried machinery. A surge of electricity not only coursed through Scyther, but Houndoom as well, causing Houndoom to release its hold on Scyther. Scyther careened off of the elevator and down into the dark depths below, while Houndoom fell through the hole and landed next to Mikado in a smoking heap. Its body still crackled and hummed with electricity. A faint whimper escaped Houndoom's mouth as Mikado kneeled next to it, pulled out a first aid spray, and proceeded to heal his wounded partner. "You took quite a charge there, eh Houndoom?" Houndoom stood up, shakily at first, then regained its normal footing. It shook its head as if to say, "_Yeah, yeah. But I'm still here!" _

Instead of ascending upwards, the elevator started to gain speed, accelerating downwards. On its way down the shaft, Scyther had managed to cut the thick support wire in half. You know the age old saying: What goes up, must come down. Due to the gaining speed of acceleration, Mikado fell to his knees. "Shit..It seems we have another taxing issue at hand. That Scyther cut the support wire on this metal death trap. An act of final desperation, perhaps. But we're not through yet!" Mikado pulled a Pokeball off of his sash and quickly tossed it. Out of the momentary white flash appeared Alakazam, an immensely strong Psychic type Pokemon that resembled a bipedal golden brown fox with long whiskers, brown armor on its arms, legs, and torso, and two shiny silver spoons in each hand. It uses these spoons as a medium to focus its Psychic powers and magnify them a hundredfold. Not very many can match the Psychic prowess of an Alakazam.

"Use Psychic on this elevator car and get us to the next floor!" Alakazam closed its eyes, its entire body becoming enshrouded in a bright blue aura of psychic energy, then pointed its spoons at the elevator. The same blue aura surrounding its body enveloped the elevator, immediately stopping its perilous plunge. Using its tremendous Psychic abilities, Alakazam guided the entire elevator back up the shaft, orchestrating the entire movement with ease.

The elevator climbed steadily upwards as Mikado watched the numbers flicker on and off. "So we're at the 100th floor, hmm? The moment of truth is finally upon us. Fair enough. Houndoom! Melt down the doors! Alakazam, keep this car aloft!" Both Pokemon responded to their masters orders post haste. Houndoom released a scorching blast of fire from its mouth while Alakazam kept its psychic grip firm on the elevator car. Houndoom and Mikado leapt through the adult-sized hole that was caused by Houndoom's flames while Alakazam simply floated out. Upon opening its eyes, Alakazam released the car, letting it plummet down to the bottom. The resulting explosion caused the entire building to shutter and rock, but this not being an ordinary run-of-the-mill office tower, it stood firm.

"Thank you Alakazam, Houndoom. Without you two, surely I'd have been done.." Before Mikado could finish his sentence, he fell forward suddenly, something sharp tearing through his right shoulder. Blood sprayed everywhere in an upwards arc as the world around him seemed to fade away slowly, as if it were all a bad dream. His eyes began to gloss over as his body tried to cope with the pain throbbing in his shoulder. Gazing behind him, he could faintly see a gleaming, crimson coated scythe. A scythe covered in his own blood.

"So the fall didn't kill you afterall..I should've guessed.." And there behind him stood Scyther, its body singed and battered in some places from its fall down the shaft. It raised its sickles triumphantly and let out a screech, ready to deal the final blow. Before Mikado completely blacked out, and before Scyther struck again, Alakazam had already formed a protective barrier of blue psychic energy around him. Scyther's scythe rebounded off, and it hissed angrily in response. "Alakazam..Old friend...This is twice you've saved me..Soon, people will start thinking I am weak if this keeps up..heh.." Mikado grinned, although it was a pained grin as he gritted his teeth and felt his body grow colder as more blood poured from the open wound.

"It's that nightmare again!" Mikado bolted upright in bed as he awoke from that same reoccurring dream, sweat beading on his forehead as he gazed over at the digital clock on his nightstand. He shifted around as his eyes hazily adjusted to the darkness around him. _6:00 am. How long was I asleep for? Speaking of sleeping..._Mikado turned his attention to the foot of the bed where his loyal Houndoom was lying down curled up in a ball. It raised its head lazily and gazed at him with one open eye as it let out a yawn as if to say, "_Yeah, yeah_. _I'm awake, I'm awake." _ "Houndoom, I'm glad to see that you're awake as well." Mikado petted Houndoom on the head, its ebony fur warm to the touch. Houndoom licked his hand in response, stretched out its body, then leaped down onto the floor.


	2. Chapter 1: Power Play

Chapter 1: Power Play

_Bakumaru says that one of the sons of the Kurogashi family has been causing trouble around here again. Typical. He only sends me in when things are really fucked and beyond the point of negotiating, and right now it seems things have been turned all the way up to eleven. _

_8:00 PM, Yozoracho. _The infamous red-light district of Daitokai. A teeming, neon-soaked maze of snake-like alleyways, seedy bars, shady nightclubs, overpriced love hotels and all manner of the lowest forms of life. If you seek pleasure, entertainment, or other worldly vices, this is the place to be.

_So this is Shunya Kurogashi. Cute. _Mikado scoffed as he gazed at the photograph that Bakumaru had provided for him of a lanky, medium-build youth in his early twenties dressed from head to toe in a black designer suit, beaming proudly and standing arm-in-arm with two ladies of the evening who couldn't be a day over 18.

"Mikado, I want you to _take good care_ of Shunya Kurogashi. He's been acting like he owns the goddamn place, painting the town red however he pleases, and I can't have that. Show the Kurogashi family how I run things around here." Mikado could hear Bakumaru's terse words echoing in his head as he walked with Houndoom down the humid, overcrowded, cigarette-and-food aroma choked alley.

_I know what 'take good care' means. _Mikado paused in front of Happy Paradise Palace, a gaudily lit love hotel that doubled as a prostitution den. A man Mikado had questioned earlier told him that he had seen Shunya coming out of there in a drunken stupor not too long ago. _He either wants him roughed up really good, or silenced completely, depending on how much of a fight Shunya puts up._

"Leave me alone you asshole!" Mikado and Houndoom both turned their heads and as luck would have it, there was Shunya harassing a young girl in a miniskirt. "Hey baby, come on, I just wanna have some _fun_!" Shunya grabbed the girl by the waist and pulled her towards him, but she would have none of it, promptly kneeing him in the groin.

Shunya howled as he doubled over in pain, his face turning red as a Voltorb as he clutched his swollen manhood. "You stupid fucking bitch! Don't you know who I am? I'll teach you some respect!" Shunya growled, sputtered, then spit and raised his hand to slap the girl across the face.

"Houndoom, use Glare now!" Houndoom's eyes glowed a deep red as it bared its fangs and stared deeply into Shunya's now fear-stricken eyes. Shunya forgot completely about the girl, who had already disappeared into the crowd of growing onlookers. Shivers traveled up and down his spine as Houndoom kept its gaze firm.

"Who the fuck are you?" Shunya stammered as he tried to avert his gaze from Houndoom's, but it was to no avail. "I'm Mikado. Bakumaru sent me because it seems that you've been causing quite the ruckus around here, Shunya. You know you can't just waltz into someone else's house and act like you own the place." Mikado lit a cigarette that he took out of his breast pocket and took a long drag, smoke trailing upwards towards the sky.

"Don't you know who the fuck I am and who the fuck you're dealing with? I'm Shunya Kurogashi, son of Kurokami Kurogashi, head of the Kurogashi family. You picked the wrong guy to fuck with!" Shunya finally shook free of Houndoom's gaze, stood up shakily, then grabbed a Poké Ball off of his belt and tossed it.

"Electabuzz, show these guys not to fuck with the Kurogashi family!" Out of the blinding white flash appeared Electabuzz, electricity coursing and crackling in a bluish-white all over its yellow fur and black-striped body. Its long tail twitched back and forth as it pounded its lightning bolt-striped chest, releasing a blast of white-hot lightning into the sky as a show of its power.

_I knew it would come down to this. It always does. Luckily I don't mind getting my hands dirty. _Mikado allowed himself a small grin. "Houndoom, Electabuzz is very powerful at both close and long-range, so use caution! Let's heat things up with Black Fire!" Houndoom opened up its mouth and shot a scorching hot blast of toxin-infused black flames from its mouth.

"Electabuzz, dodge those flames then use Lightning Rod to absorb electricty for more power! Show those two that we don't fuck around!" Electabuzz, in spite of its size, nimbly dodged and danced around the flames that were heading towards it, the black flames hitting and scorching the ground where it was only a moment before.

The fur on Electabuzz's body hummed and crackled as it absorbed electricity through the antennae on its head from the surrounding neon lights of the various establishments, causing them to burst in a shower of sparks. Panicked customers ran out onto the streets to see what was going on. Electabuzz flexed its arms as they bulged with the newly acquired electric energy.

"Now use Thunder Kick!" Electabuzz leapt high into the sky then flew as fast as lightning towards Houndoom, lashing out with an electricity-infused foot. Houndoom dodged to the side right before Electabuzz landed and slammed its foot into the ground, causing it to erupt and shatter in a blast of concrete and electricity. The sound of thunder reverberated all around as lightning shot out of the ensuing blast.

_Had Houndoom been hit by that, I don't think that he would've made it. It seems we might have underestimated them. __With that much power, any attack that Electabuzz uses could spell disaster for Houndoom. Mikado was not nervous, however. Houndoom had faced stronger opponents than this._ Although his opponent might be strong, Mikado still had his trump card.

"Houndoom, they can't hit you if they can't see you! Obscure Electabuzz's vision with Smog!" Houndoom responded by shooting a thick black cloud of toxic smoke from its mouth. The smog surrounded Electabuzz, giving Mikado and Houndoom ample time to follow up with the counter attack.

"Now use Flamethrower on that Smog! Burn Electabuzz to cinders!" A red-hot stream of fire erupted from Houndoom's mouth and sped towards the toxic cloud surrounding Electabuzz. "Electabuzz, quick! Use Lightning Shield!" Electabuzz crossed its arms over its chest, its body shuddering as electricity completely surrounded it in a protective barrier. Houndoom's Flamethrower collided with the smog cloud, igniting it in a blazing inferno and trapping Electabuzz within.

_I don't even think that Electabuzz could possibly survive that._ Mikado watched in silence as the fiery cocoon wrapped around Electabuzz. However, Shunya didn't seem to worried about it. In fact, he seemed cockier than ever. "You think that'll stop us? Hah! What a joke! Electabuzz! Thunder Javelin!" It seemed that Electabuzz was still protected by the Lightning Shield as it burst out of the flaming inferno with nary a single singe. It held its hand in the air, summoning a crackling spear of raw electric power and hurling it at Houndoom. It continued to summon and hurl spear after spear of electricity as if it were a long forgotten deity from an ancient civilization.

Houndoom weaved in and out of the path of the electric spears, sometimes barely avoiding them. "Houndoom! Stop those lightning spears with Flame Wall!" Houndoom quickly shot a line of fire onto the ground in front of it which erupted into a blazing wall of fire, causing the lightning spears to disperse as they came into contact with it.


End file.
